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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3688 |
1st October 2014 Mt. Biking: Langes to Fontaine de Vaucluse to L’Isle sur la S Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered: 18 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Tuesday 30th September – sightseeing, travel + McD – cloudy with rain It rained in the night and on and off for most of the day:( We did manage to do our exercises before it started to rain this morning. Set off straight after breakfast and drove round the villages mentioned in the book but nothing out of the ordinary. One old village perched on the side of the mountain is beginning to look much like another and after the simple beauty of Oppedette yesterday they seem a bit Disney – especially when there is a coach load of Americans! We did stop at Bonneiux which has a beautiful village of france award and we walked up to the table of orientation and the closed church. We stopped in Apt at a LeClerc and did a shop but were gutted when there was a Lidl round the corner!! Went to McD’s for an hour or so after having lunch in the car park! We bought a couple of coffees and caught up with facebook, forces of nature and over 200 e-mails of which we kept 4 and they were about utilities back home! Drove on to Fountaine de Vauclaus and drove through the village, seeing the vibrant weird green coloured river Sorgue, which is what the place is famous for. It was pay to park everywhere and it was getting late so we drove back on ourselves up into the hills and parked in the wilderness – much more our cup of tea! Had a walk to and along the edge of some cliffs nearby until it was nearly dark, dodging and moving big snails out of the way so we didn’t stand on them! Not such a good day today but it would have to have been something special to beat yesterday!! Wednesday 1st October – Bike ride ***** - Langes to Fontaine de Vaucluse to L’Isle sur la Sorgue – 18 n.miles sunny Well, a different weather to start the day! Fog. It rained again in the night and at 7 you could see the sun coming up then everything was completely swallowed up by thick fog. The only thing we could see were amazing spider’s webs strung between the plants outside the van door:) We heard a car arrive in the car park behind us and a dog’s bell ringing then suddenly CRACK right next to the van!! The hunter knew we were there luckily because the dog was very interested in the van but he shot at something from a junction in the path about 10 yards from our bumper! Made us jump for sure!! We didn’t bother with exercises as it was all damp and muddy outside and the fog wasn’t very inviting so after our usual leisurely start we were finally ready just as the sun broke through at 10.45 and it stayed all day. We drove down to Lagnes and parked in the car park near the school. Got the bikes off and set out about 11.30 to bike down to Fontaine de Vaucluse. The road out of Lagnes was pretty steep but we pushed up a bit of a detour to visit their outdoor theatre and belvedere view over the town. Carried on uphill until we reached the point where it was a steep downhill freewheel all the way to the River Sorgue in the centre of Fontaine de Vaucluse. We spent a good couple of hours exploring this beautiful little place. The water is the clearest we have ever seen and because of the bright green plant growing on the river bed it gives the water a bright green colour. We walked through the tunnel through ancient rock to walk along the right hand bank and walls made by channelling the water off for various mills. Then we headed up our usual scramble to the very top of the village and the ruined chateau. It was a bit scary up there to be honest as we walked out onto a thin ruined wall and were high above the town with nothing on either side of us! Clambered down and unlocked the bikes to head up the left hand bank. There were several souvenir/gift shops here and restaurants which had terraces right above the water. We cycled past all that and headed for the source of the Sorgue. At the very end of the path in a kind of Cirque was a deep hole with water in the bottom which in the spring is full and supplies one source from deep within the mountain but as it has been dry all summer the water is gushing out a lot further down. We had our lunch sitting on the rocks right where the water came out – probably ruining several tourists’ photos!! Amazing place, we loved it. On the way back to the bridge in the centre we visited a paper mill which was free entry and fully functioning with its old water wheel:) Fascinating to watch and a great shop where you could buy a multitude of things made from their own paper but they had really priced their stuff way too high and we didn’t buy anything. It was a shame because we would definitely have bought a notebook or something if it had been more reasonable. We noticed nobody else was buying either:( Back on the bikes and filled the water bottle up from the spout next to the river and headed along the cycle route to L’Isle sur la Sorgue about 8km away. The first bit was along the river so easy cruising along looking at the various sluices and cuts off to canals near the village of La Galer. The route then headed up hill most of the way to the town but the 7 remaining km did seem to go by quickly. L’Isle sur la Sorgue is nicknamed the Venice of the Comtat because of all the waterways in the town. River and canals all the way round and through the middle. We cycled along most of them and through the middle of the town too. There are lots of water wheels all around the town and nearly all of them are turning all the time. We stopped in the park by the river to eat our snack before trying to find the right way back. As we had made up our own first bit of the trip we had to be careful not to end up back at Fontaine because it would be a real uphill slog out of there! Luckily we found the right way through lovely orchards and fields of pumpkins, some out drying and others being loaded onto pallets ready for market. Took our turning back up to Lagnes which wasn’t too steep a climb the way we had approached it. We had been out 5 ½ hours and done about 18 miles. After loading the bikes on drove back to our overnight spot from last night. A well deserved cuppa and left over pain aux raisins Another hunter and his dog were wandering around but he was bonjouring and smiling so he didn’t have a problem with us being there and we didn’t hear any shots! Nice sunset to finish another great day:) |
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